Elder teams up with niece-in-law to complete a pair of mukluks after 60 years
Agnes White made the first stitch on a pair of mukluks for her brother in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., in 1958.
More than 60 years later, and with some help from her niece-in-law in Inuvik, N.W.T., they're finally done.
"I took a big sigh," said White.
For six decades White took the mukluks wherever she went, from Tuktoyaktuk to Herschel Island, various towns in Alaska to the midwestern U.S. — Kansas to be specific — then to Leduc, Alta., where she lives today.
"I never let go of it," she said.
White drew the design, something that her brother would like. He died before the mukluks were finished.
How special to have been given this sewing that is so old, and had so much history. - Anna Pingo
"Sixty years is a long time to finish a pair of mukluks," she said.
White said she drew the flowers the way they look, coming up out of the tundra.
"I just thought of the wind blowing the flowers ... swaying them back and forth," she said. "[It's] showing my love in a certain way. I can't show it with a hug or anything, but I can show it in my sewing, that I loved him."
Since the 1950s, White's eyesight has diminished. She still sews, but decided to get the mukluks finished for her brother's son, Fraser Pingo, who married Anna Pingo — the woman who would finally help finish them.
Anna and her husband Fraser were visiting White when she passed on the sewing.
"[Fraser] was his oldest son, and I thought to myself he loved his oldest son. By finishing these mukluks I can do that much for him."
Anna said that it was a chance to work on her embroidery skills. She said that when you inherit someone's sewing, you learn from them.
She had them for several years, but was leery about starting because of White's perfect stitches.
"They just sat there. And I was thinking, gee I'm so scared to try. What if they turn out pitiful-looking?" said Anna.
'They're complete'
After a year and a half, she thought: "I'd better just try."
Anna spent hours embroidering seven of the flowers. White put the finishing touches on the mukluks.
"How special to have been given this sewing that is so old, and had so much history," said Pingo.
"I'm finally there. They're complete."
Anna said she feels blessed to have a relationship with White, to hear her stories and knowledge and share the Inuvialuktun language.
"When an Elder gives you something, they're giving you their gift," said Anna. "[White] gave me her gift of sewing."
"She told me, 'You caught on. I gave you my gift and I want you to keep going and keep sewing and making stuff for your grandkids, because I needed someone to give that to while I'm still here.'"
Anna recently finished up the embroidery for a vest to match the mukluks. White and Anna are working on the vest together.
